I gave Piece of History Firearms a call a bit over a week ago about doing an AK-74 build for me.  Mario told me he would be in the shop Friday (July 22nd) so I drove over and dropped of a box of parts I had laying around for some months trying to make up my mind whether to sell them or have a rifle built.  With all the talk about parts kits drying up I decided to go with a professional build.

I got a call from Mario a week (July 29th) later telling me the rifle was being painted and would be test fired on Sunday.  Today (Monday August 1st) I drove over to his shop and picked up the finished rifle.
Not a bad turn-around time, 10 days from dropping off the kit.  I have to wait until this Thursday to take it out and fire it, but from what I have heard of his work, I shouldn't have any problems.






Black K-VAR U.S. stockset
Global Trades 1 mm receiver
Old type Gordon Tech double hook FCG
Side rail scope mount
Bulgarian selector engraving
Moly over park

NICE!  

Very nice. Let us know how it shoots!

Quoted: I gave Piece of History Firearms a call a bit over a week ago about doing an AK-74 build for me.  Mario told me he would be in the shop Friday (July 22nd) so I drove over and dropped of a box of parts I had laying around for some months trying to make up my mind whether to sell them or have a rifle built.  With all the talk about parts kits drying up I decided to go with a professional build. I got a call from Mario a week (July 29th) later telling me the rifle was being painted and would be test fired on Sunday.  Today (Monday August 1st) I drove over to his shop and picked up the finished rifle. Not a bad turn-around time, 10 days from dropping off the kit.  I have to wait until this Thursday to take it out and fire it, but from what I have heard of his work, I shouldn't have any problems. img.photobucket.com/albums/v399/Wildweasel02/Picture002.jpg img.photobucket.com/albums/v399/Wildweasel02/Picture016.jpg img.photobucket.com/albums/v399/Wildweasel02/Picture014.jpg Black K-VAR U.S. stockset Global Trades 1 mm receiver Old type Gordon Tech double hook FCG Side rail scope mount Bulgarian selector engraving Moly over park

Nice markings...  Great overall build!

Spooky

Nice!

The reciever markings are real slick, a neat touch.  The "Cat's Ass" as you might say.

Mario at Piece of History Firearms has receivers in stock and if he does the build he gives you a good price on the receiver.  I have a Polish underfolder kit put away for him to build in the near future.   I believe his prices on a build are in line with builders such as Derek at Arizona Expert Arms.  A bit more expensive than some, but being local I was able to deal face to face, didn't have to pay shipping and had a fast turn-around time.

I didn't have to deal with the frustration of a poor build by someone who does not pay due attention to detail.  

I have contacted other builders and they were backed up several months and with the possibilities of people going out of business with a shortage of parts kits in the future, I liked the idea of having a local smith do my build.  Not that there are not enough kits out there to keep builders busy for a long time.  I look at these professional builds as an investment.   I have always held my firearms until someone comes along who just has to have the one I have.

Finally made it up into the Santa Rita Mountains today to test fire my Bulgarian AK-74 build done by Mario at Piece of History Firearms.  I mounted a Russian PSOP 4x24 siderail mount scope with a 400 m reticle.



I set the cardboard cutout target at ground level at 100 yards in the brush and fired about 60 rounds rapid fire in the offhand position.  I was using Wolf ammo as I didn't have the time to dig out some Barnaul.  

The wind was from the right at about 15 mph and though I was shooting a bit to the left of the target, I didn't make any adjustments as this was just a function test of the rifle, different types of mags and to see if I could get it on paper.  I counted 58 holes in the target so I was at least able to hit the target, I hadn't expected to even do that without sighting in.

I'm glad that I decided to have this rifle built instead of selling the kit off, even though I could have had a nice return on it with the barrel ban that will shortly be in effect.  








One of the mags I have for this rifle is a .223 Arsenal 5 round mag which with some minor fitting functions flawlessly with 4 5.45x39 rounds.  I will be using the rifle hopefully this winter when I go out varmint hunting for coyotes.  I'll have to fine tune the optic at the range and I also will not be shooting from the offhand position, so I think this setup will work fine for a few coyotes.  Most of the time I will be using one of my heavy barrel AR-15 varmint or target rifles.